One of the most delightfully inspiring stories of all time can be found in 1st Samuel Chapter 17; the awesome account of a small shepherd boy who brought down the giant champion intimidating his people.
King Saul was afraid. The Israelites were afraid. They thought their doom was certain.
Have you ever been threatened by a giant? Have you ever had to face something so much bigger and stronger than you, that you believed it was unsolvable? Do you still have to deal with a giant today?
Your giant may be a need; for a job, life partner or the fruit of the womb. It may be a weakness; a habit you cannot break that is destroying you gradually, for instance. Or it may be your circumstances; a sickness that leaves you bedridden, or even a wayward child.
Regardless of what shape it takes, a giant is always from the enemy’s camp; what it wants to do to you is not what God desires for you. Your giant is relentless, it mocks you, and above all, it saps you of your dignity, your confidence and self respect.
How do you battle your giant? You prepare, that’s how. David did not just charge into battle blindly; he equipped himself- and so must you.
How can we take a leaf from David?
- Know your enemy; this is a basic rule of battle. You must know clearly what the giant is.
- Recognise that the giant is “uncircumcised”- it is not from God. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
- Recognise that you are a child of God. This is what makes you stronger than any giant — the fact that you belong to Jehovah, and He is on your side.
“David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
- Decide to fight. One of the major things we don’t do is decide to fight. A decision to fight is saying, “I am going to fight this thing to the end”, not just complaining or asking for help here and there.
“David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
- Shut out all doubters and negative influences.
“Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
“But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.”
- Remember your memorial stones — God doing that same thing or a similar thing, for someone else or for you in the past; something neither they nor you could have done by personal strength.
“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
- Set goals and have a strategy. Don’t just sit and pray; have a plan. Faith and works go together. Faith without works is dead.
“Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.”
- Be prepared to try more than once. David picked 5 stones, even though he used only one eventually. You must be mentally, spiritually, and physically prepared.
From David’s attitude and speech, it was clear he was prepared in every way. He knew his locus standi, he was fully aware of who he was in his God. And he slew his giant.
“So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.”
Go and defeat yours!
